Canada plans new fuel rules, aims 30-megatonne emissions cut by 2030

Reuters Staff

2 Min Read

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada will require reduced carbon footprints for all fuels so that the country can achieve a 30-megatonne cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, the country’s environment department said on Friday.

The government will not mandate specific changes to fuels and will focus just on reducing their emissions, officials said after a government announcement in Toronto.

Precise steps are to be determined after consultations, including with Canada’s provinces and relevant industries, and the government will release a discussion paper in February 2017, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Canada’s Liberal government ran on a platform to do more for the environment. The country’s new fuel measures would help it meet the emissions reduction targets of the Paris agreement on climate change, which Canada’s Parliament ratified last month.

The government’s stance contrasts sharply with that of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who has pledged to ease the regulatory burden on all fossil fuel producers.

Canada’s new measures, the “Clean Fuel Standard,” will aim to reduce fuels’ carbon intensity, a measure of emissions relative to the amount of energy derived, according to the environment department.

Separately Canada announced on Monday it will virtually eliminate the use of traditional coal-fired electricity by 2030.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vowed last month to bring in a minimum nationwide price on carbon emissions by 2018.

But data show Canada has little chance of meeting its climate change goals of reducing emissions by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, in part because of booming emissions from the energy sector.